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Niko Tinbergen's "Four Questions"
FROM A PROXIMATE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS:
1. What are the factors (both internal and external) that CAUSE the behavior?
2. How does the behavior DEVELOP within the individual's lifetime? (Questions about behavioral ontogeny)
FROM AN ULTIMATE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS:
3. What, if any, adaptive function does the behavior serve? That is, how does it contribute to the survival and reproduction of the individual displaying it?
4. How did the behavior evolve? How has it changed over evolutionary time? (Questions about behavioral phylogeny)
Keeping the "4 questions" in mind when making an ethogram, we can define behaviors in one of several ways.
DEFINITION BY OPERATION:
The first way (and the preferred way until the observer is MUCH more familiar with the animal being observed) is purely descriptive. Using this kind of definition, the observer simply describes the behavior as simply and as objectively as possible. Operational definitions of behaviors generally include information about the orientation of the behavior (to whom or what is it directed) and the spatiotemporal organization of the behavior (what body part is doing what, when, and where, etc.) An example of an operational definition of a behavior can be seen below.
DEFINITION BY CONSEQUENCE:
The second way of defining a behavior is by its consequence. Such definitions add the observer's interpretation of the function of the behavior; sometimes, of the intent of the behaving animal. Thus, they require considerable understanding of the animal observed, so that the observer's interpretations are based on that understanding and not on preconceived biases. An example of a behavior defined by its consequence (sometimes called a "functional" definition) can be seen below.
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Helpful Hints for Taking Take-Home Tests
Remember, because you have several days to take these tests, and because they are open-book, open-note, and open discussion, YOU WILL BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD for your answers than if you were taking a test in the 50-minute class time. Below are some tips for how to meet that standard with a minimum amount of pain and suffering on your part.
1. READ AND REVIEW THE MATERIAL in advance. Just as you would study for an in-class test, you must study for a take-home test in order to do well on it. Don't wait until you get the exam to do this. Studying beforehand will shorten the time it takes you to find the relevant passages in the text, and will speed up the time it takes you to compose your answers.
2. STUDY THE QUESTIONS at the end of every chapter. I will be using these often as questions on exams. Think about answers to them--review the text material or your notes as needed to obtain those answers. If you can, jot down brief answers to them as part of your studying. This will shorten your test-taking time considerably, if those questions are on the next test!
3. OUTLINE YOUR ANSWERS on a separate sheet of paper before you begin to write them down. What are the major points that you wish to make? What data do you need to put where in your arguments, in order to support them? Find those data in the text or in your notes, and jot them down in your outline where you will need to refer to them.
4. WRITE OUT YOUR ANSWERS to essay questions on a separate sheet of paper first, before putting your answers on the test sheets. Use your outline as a guide to the creation of your prose answers.
5. GET A FRIEND (preferably one not in this class--such a person is less likely to "read between the lines") OR WRITING TUTOR to read your answers before you put them on the test sheets. Is the meaning of your prose clear? How well does it match your outline? Are you saying what you intended to say?
6. CHECK YOUR "DIRECTIVE WORDS" handout to be sure that you are answering the question in the way that you have been asked to answer it. Ask your friend or writing tutor to check this for you, too!
7. DON'T REPEAT THE QUESTION that you have been asked. For example, if a test question reads: "According to Research Methods for Studying Animal Behavior in a Zoo Setting, what are the steps necessary to conduct an animal behavior investigation?"--don't start your answer by writing "According to Research Methods for Studying Animal Behavior in a Zoo Setting, the following are the steps necessary to conduct an animal behavior investigation:" In doing so, you just wasted time and space. I know what the question is--don't bother repeating it in your answer.
8. DON'T "DUMPTRUCK." This is "teacher-ese" for when students write down everything that they know about a topic, with or without ever answering the question. "Dumptrucking" takes up time and space, and worse--it often leads the reader to think that you are uncertain about your answer; that you are "shotgunning" the answer in the hopes that you will "hit" at least some of the points that the reader is looking for. For example, if I ask you to describe the 3 hypotheses for infanticide in langurs, don't start your essay by telling me about langurs, where they live, and how they commit infanticide. I already know that! Keep your answer focused on the question that you are being asked. Don't put in "filler."
9. CHECK YOUR SPELLING. In an open-note, open-book take-home test, there is no excuse for spelling something incorrectly. To do so shows a lack of seriousness and time-taking. It leads the reader to think that your answer is sloppier than perhaps it actually is. Again, use your friend or writing tutor to help you with this.
10. USE THE NUMBER OR POINTS a question is worth as a rough guide for how to answer the question. For example, the question "Describe how science as a way of knowing is different than other ways of knowing" was worth 2 points. In your answer, I was looking for the two criteria that the acquisition of some knowledge must meet in order for that acquisition to be considered an example of science as a way of knowing: all knowledge must be based on experience, and that knowledge must be replicable. If you had both of these points in your answer, you should have received 2 points. If you only had one of these points, you earned one point, etc.
11. THINK LIKE A NATURAL SCIENTIST. That means that if there are data to support your argument, use them! If there are data to refute another's argument, use those too! If I ask you "which hypothesis of infanticide best fits the data as you know it?," don't choose an hypothesis that you just refuted one paragraph ago. For example, many people correctly wrote that in order to test the social pathology hypothesis, you would have to compare the rate of infanticide in human-fed populations with populations that are not influenced by humans. Those folks often pointed out that this indeed has been done, and that no difference in rate of infanticide exists between monkey troops that are fed and those that are not. This is a datum that refutes (fails to support or contradicts) the social pathology hypothesis! Yet those same writers would often go on to say that the social pathology hypothesis was the best, because it seemed the most likely to them. THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE to a natural scientist as a way of thinking. If the data fail to support an hypothesis, then that is usually taken as evidence that the hypothesis is incorrect. Choose your answers carefully, and support them with evidence as appropriate. If you cannot support them with evidence, then support them with reasoning. But don't try to support them with your personal feelings on the matter.
Effective answers to essay questions depend in part upon a clear understanding of the meanings of important directive words. These words (e.g., "explain," "discuss," "compare") indicate the way in which the instructor wants you to present the material. Background knowledge of the subject matter is essential, but mere evidence of this is not enough to earn you points on an essay--you must answer the question that you are being asked. In other words, you have to learn to use what you know relative to the question that is being asked. This requires a knowledge--among other things--of the meaning of directive words. For example, if you are asked to compare the sexual competition hypothesis of male langur infanticide with the social pathology hypothesis of the same, you will get no credit if you merely describe the two hypotheses. Or, if you are asked to evaluate the three hypotheses regarding langur infanticide, you would get no points for merely listing them. An essay is only satisfactory if it answers directly the question that is being asked.
Below is a list of common directive words that you might see in this class, or in other essay tests on campus. Feel free to consult this handout as you are taking the take-home tests for this class, to be sure that you are answering the question in the manner that is required.
1. Analyze: determine the nature and relationship of the component parts of; explain; break down. Ex. "Analyze the mechanism by which some species of moths avoid predatory bats."
2. Assess: judge the value or character of something; appraise; evaluate. Ex. "Assess the relative strength of each of the 3 hypotheses regarding infanticide in Hanuman langurs, given the available data."
3. Compare: examine for the purposes of noting similarities and differences. "Compare the nestbuilding behavior of weaver birds and bower birds."
4. Contrast: compare in order to show unlikeness or points of difference. Ex. "Contrast the theories of Hull and Tolman in how animals find their way around in space."
5. Criticize: make judgments as to merits and faults; criticism may approve or disapprove, or both! Ex. "Criticize the proximate and ultimate approaches to animal behavior."
6. Define: give the meaning of (a word, a phrase, a concept); determine or fix the boundaries or extent of. Ex. "Define the term 'Fixed Action Pattern.'"
7. Describe: give an account of; tell about; give a word picture of. Ex. Describe the courtship behavior of male kittiwake gulls."
8. Discriminate between: describe in such a way as to show differences between. Ex. "Discriminate between casual and systematic observations.
9. Discuss: talk over; write about; consider or examine by argument or from various points of view; debate; present the different sides of. Ex. "Discuss the impact of Darwin's theory of natural selection on modern biological thought."
10. Enumerate: mention or list separately; name one after another. Ex. "Enumerate the parts of a typical scientific research paper."
11. Evaluate: Give the good points and the bad ones; give an opinion regarding the value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages. Ex. "Evaluate the behavior of helping at the nest in Florida scrub jays."
12. Explain: make clear or plain; make known in detail; tell the meaning of; make clear the cause or reason of. Ex. "Explain how sea turtles find their way back to their natal beach for egg laying."
13. Illustrate: make clear or intelligible as by examples. Ex. "Illustrate the ways in which an animal may maximize it's fitness."
14. Interpret: explain the meaning of; make plain; present your thinking about; present your thinking about. Ex. "Interpret the tail-flagging behavior of white-tailed deer."
15. Justify or Defend: show good reasons for; present your evidence; offer facts to support your position. Ex. "Defend your choice of 'the best' hypothesis for explaining infanticide in langurs."
16. Prove: establish the truth or genuineness of something by giving factual evidence or logical reasons. Ex. "Prove the creching behavior of ostriches is or is not evolutionarily advantageous."
17. Summarize: state or express in concise form; give the main points briefly. Ex. "Summarize the observations that led Darwin to his theory of natural selection."
18. Trace: follow the course of; give a description of the progress of; ascertain by investigation. Ex. "Trace the development of song in the white-crowned sparrow."